SATURDAY Nightly Roundup: BOTH The Flyers and Sixers Won, AGAIN

Welcome back to the Nightly Roundup! As you might have noticed, Thursday Night’s version had to be canceled due to an issue coming home from the Flyers game. Since both the Flyers and Sixers played this afternoon/evening, here’s a recap of both games as well as some Phillies talk.

The Flyers came out HOT as Ivan Proverov sniped a mere twenty-eight seconds in the game. The Fly Guys kept pushing as Robert Hagg would add on to make 2-0 before the first was half over. Petr Mrazek, in his second start as a Flyer, looked great for most of the first, his only blemish coming from a one-timed power play goal by Mike Hoffman. A more somber second period kept the score 2-1 Flyers through 40 minutes of play.

Like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Captain Claude quickly broke the Senators’ back less than five minutes into the third period:

Brandon Manning assisted that goal, the next by Nolan Patrick, and then netted one of his own from the middle of the ice as all of a sudden, the Flyers led 5-1. With about five minutes to go, the Sens showed signs of life as Ryan Dzingel took a one-timer that snuck in-between Mrazek’s blocker-arm and chest pads. Honestly, it looked like Mrazek’s only weakness was the one-timer as he played an incredible game. The Sens would add a third goal with about two minutes left, the Flyers had taken their feet off the gas pedal and Ottawa could feel it. Quickly pulling the goalie, the Sens made a push in the final minute but a well-timed diving poke check from Sean Couturier would seal the deal as the final seconds ticked away.

Giroux was interviewed on-ice and immediately acknowledged the complacency from the Flyers. While it’s probably the first thing Dave Hakstol said to the team in the locker room, the lack of 60-minute efforts from the Flyers have been absolutely frustrating to watch–however few there have been recently given that win was their fifth-straight, moving to 9-1-2 in February.

With the trade deadline now less than 48 hours away, it’ll be interesting to see if Ron Hextall decides to make another move but the Mrazek deal is already paying dividends. The Flyers have been playing more and more complete team games so giving up more picks or prospects might not be the most optimal strategy. However, having now had a piece of first place might change that–Pittsburgh and Washington both play tonight so they may retake first and second, respectively. It seemed pretty obvious that Erik Karlsson is on his way out of Ottawa, especially at the end of the game. Where he ends up, is probably one of the top hockey storylines until 3:00 pm on Monday afternoon.

The Sixers dismantled the Orlando Magic this evening 116-105. Despite coming out a little slower in the first quarter, the Sixers quickly took over with Joel Embiid putting up another double-double (28/14) and five other Sixers scoring in double-figures as well (Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, RoCo, Dario, and Marco Belinelli). I’d be remiss to not point out another stellar supporting effort from TJ McConnell including this to cap off the third quarter:

It’s pretty awesome to have baseball highlights back. I didn’t watch any of the Phillies’ Spring Training win over the Baltimore Orioles but a bomb is a bomb. Just don’t lose that swing before Opening Day, Jorge.